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The Pearl Guide

INTRODUCTION
When John Steinbeck accepted his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he described the
writer’s obligation as “dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the
purpose of improvement.” For some critics, that purpose has obscured Steinbeck’s literary
value. He has been characterized variously as an advocate of socialist-style solutions to the
depredations of capitalism, a champion of individualism, a dabbler in sociobiology, and a
naturalist.

While evidence for different political and philosophical stances may be culled from
Steinbeck’s writings, a reader who stops at this point misses some of the most interesting
aspects of his work, including his use of paradox. “Men is supposed to think things out,”
insists Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. “It ought to have some meaning” (p. 55). But in
this epic novel, as well as in Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, Steinbeck seems to question
whether the mysteries of human existence can ever be fully explained. In these works that
span the grim decade from 1937 to 1947, Steinbeck urges the dispossessed to challenge a
system that denies them both sustenance and dignity, and to seek the spiritual belonging that
enables individuals to achieve their full humanity. So we have the paradox of the author
apparently denouncing injustice while also exalting acceptance of the sorrows visited on
humanity, whether those sorrows are wrought by nature or by humans themselves.

All three books examine the morality and necessity of actions the characters choose as they
pursue their dreams. The poor fisherman Kino in The Pearl dreams of education for his son
and salvation for his people. We first meet him in the dimness before dawn, listening to the
sounds of his wife, Juana, at her chores, which merge in his mind with the ancestral Song of
the Family. “In this gulf of uncertain light [where] there were more illusions than realities”
(p. 19), the pearl that Kino finds lights the way to a more just world and the end of centuries
of mistreatment by white colonizers. But the promise of wealth manifests the archetypal evil
hidden in the community’s unconscious, like the pearl that had lain hidden in its oyster at the
bottom of the sea. As the dream turns dark, Kino descends into violence, bringing death to
four men and ultimately to his own son. What other choices might he have made? This
parable raises questions about our relationship to nature, the human need for spiritual
connection, and the cost of resisting injustice.

Steinbeck’s most controversial work, The Grapes of Wrath, raises similar questions. During
the Dust Bowl Era, three generations of the Joad family set out on the road, seeking a decent
life in fertile California and joining thousands of others bound by an experience that
transforms them from “I” to “we” (p. 152). Cooperation springs up among them
spontaneously, in sharp contrast with the ruthlessness of big business and the sad choices
made by its victims, for whom “a fella got to eat” (p. 344) is a continual refrain. Casy, the
preacher turned strike leader, wonders about the “one big soul ever’body’s a part of” (p. 24).

On their journey to the promised land, the characters in The Grapes of Wrath confront
enigmatic natural forces and dehumanizing social institutions. Casy is martyred as he takes a
stand for farmers who have lost their land to drought and are brutally exploited as migrant
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laborers. His disciple Tom Joad, who served time for killing a man in a bar fight, ultimately
kills another man he believes responsible for Casy’s death. Tom’s passionate conviction—
expressed in his assertion that “wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be
there” (p. 419)—stirs our sympathy; but his dilemma, like Kino’s, requires us to ask whether
taking a human life can ever be justified.

The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl are also linked by their female characters and the
questions they raise about gender roles and family identity. In The Pearl, Juana’s “quality of
woman, the reason, the caution, the sense of preservation, could cut through Kino’s manness
and save them all” (p. 59). Is this quality most responsible for the return of the pearl to the
sea at the end of the novel? Like Juana, Ma Joad is “the citadel of the family” (p. 74). As the
remnants of the Joad family seek refuge in a barn at the close of The Grapes of Wrath, Ma’s
daughter Rose of Sharon nurses a starving stranger with milk meant for her dead baby. This
final scene of female nurturing offers a resolution while also disturbing our long-held ideas
about family.

Steinbeck departs from this depiction of women in Of Mice and Men. Confined to her
husband’s home, and never given a name in the novel, Curley’s wife functions almost as a
force of nature, precipitating the events that wreck the men’s “best laid schemes,” as poet
Robert Burns wrote. Whereas the women in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl suggest
hope even in the bleakest of circumstances, Curley’s wife leaves only shattered dreams in her
wake.

Of Mice and Men tells a tightly compressed story set during the Great Depression. George
and Lennie, drifters and friends in a landscape of loners, scrape by with odd jobs while
dreaming of the time they’ll “live on the fatta the lan'” (p. 101). Lennie has a massive body
and limited intelligence, and his unpredictable behavior casts George as his protector. The
novel is peopled with outcasts—a black man, a cripple, a lonely woman. The terror of the
consequences of infirmity and old age in an unresponsive world is underscored when a
laborer’s old dog is shot. Is Lennie’s similar death at the hands of his protector, with his
dream before his eyes, preferable to what the future holds for him? Nearly all the characters
share in some version of the dream, recited almost ritualistically, and in their narrow world it
is pitifully small: “All kin’s a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can
sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there” (p. 54).

The ending appears to be at odds with Steinbeck’s explicit exhortations for social change in
the other two novels. In Of Mice and Men, he seems to appeal to a higher form of wisdom in
the character of Slim, who does not aspire to anything beyond the sphere he occupies. His
“understanding beyond thought” (p. 31) echoes Rose of Sharon’s mysterious smile at the end
ofThe Grapes of Wrath.

From the questions his characters pose about what it means to be fully human, Steinbeck may
be understood to charge literature with serving not only as a call to action, but as an
expression and acceptance of paradox in our world. “There is something untranslatable about
a book,” he wrote. “It is itself—one of the very few authentic magics our species has
created.”

ABOUT JOHN STEINBECK

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John Steinbeck’s groundbreaking and often controversial work, with its eye on the common
people, earned him both high praise and sharp criticism. In addition to his novels, Steinbeck
produced newspaper and travel articles, short stories, plays, and film scripts.

Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck spent much of his life in surrounding Monterey
county, the setting for some of his books. His experience as a young man working menial
jobs, including as a farm laborer, ranch hand, and factory worker, was transformed into
descriptions of the lives of his working-class characters. After attending Stanford University
intermittently for six years, Steinbeck traveled by freighter to New York, where he worked
briefly as a journalist before returning to California.

His first novel, Cup of Gold, appeared in 1929, but it was Tortilla Flat (1935), his picaresque
tale of Monterey’s paisanos, that first brought Steinbeck serious recognition. Of Mice and
Men (1937) was also well received. The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a book many claim is his
masterpiece, was both critically acclaimed and denounced for its strong language and
apparent leftist politics. Always shunning publicity, Steinbeck headed for Mexico in 1940,
where he made The Forgotten Village, a documentary film about conditions in rural Mexico.
He spent the war years as a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, for which he
later toured the Soviet Union in 1947; he also wrote the novel The Moon Is Down (1942),
about Norwegian resistance to the Nazis.

Steinbeck’s other notable works of fiction include The Pearl (1947), East of Eden (1952), and
The Winter of Our Discontent(1961). He also wrote a memoir of a cross-country trip with his
poodle, Travels with Charley in Search of America (1962). Steinbeck received the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1962. He died in New York in 1968. His work stands as testament to
his commitment to “celebrate man’s proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why can neither Kino nor Juana protect their baby from the scorpion?
 
2. Why could Kino kill the doctor more easily than talk to him?
 
3. Why is it important to Juana that Kino be the one to throw the pearl back into the sea?
 
4. Why does Kino think the killing of a man is not as evil as the killing of a boat?
 
5. What does the narrator mean when he says, “A town is a thing like a colonial animal”
(p. 21)?
 
6. Why does the music of the pearl change?
 
7. Why does Kino come to feel that he will lose his soul if he gives up the pearl?
 
8. Why does Tomás help Kino?
 
9. Why does Juana feel the events following the pearl’s discovery may all have been an
illusion?
 
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10. What is the significance of Juana and Kino’s walking side by side when they return to
the town?

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION

1. Did Kino do the right thing in demanding a fair price for the pearl, even if it meant
leaving his community?
 
2. Why does Steinbeck choose the parable as the form for this story?

RELATED TITLES

The Grapes of Wrath

John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (1925)

The alienating effects of capitalism, technology, and urbanization are portrayed in this
montage of life in New York City.

Tomás Rivera,… y no se lo trag— la tierra/… (And the Earth Did Not Devour Him) (1971)
A seminal work of Latino literature, these thirteen vignettes embodying the anonymous voice
of “the people” depict the exploitation of Mexican American migrant workers.

Émile Zola, Germinal (1885)

The striking miners in this nineteenth-century tale of class struggle are cast as the victims of
both an unjust social system and their own human weaknesses.

The Pearl

Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this novella tells the story of an old fisherman’s
endurance as he pursues, captures, and ultimately loses a great marlin.

D. H. Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” (in The Woman Who Rode Away and Other
Stories) (1928)
This fablelike short story follows a boy to his tragic end as he desperately tries to respond to
his family’s obsession with money.

Of Mice and Men

Frank Norris, McTeague (1899)

In this pioneering naturalistic novel set in California, a man of large physical but small
intellectual powers pursues a dream beyond menial tasks, but is corrupted by “civilization.”

John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl during the time in which he was at the height of his fame. He
had completed The Grapes of Wrath, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was
renowned and reviled as a subversive, unpatriotic man who threatened the national interest
through the socialist themes of his novels. This view of Steinbeck was inconsistent with his
soft-spoken nature, but by 1944, when Steinbeck began to write The Pearl, Steinbeck had
come to reconcile this aspect of his fame.
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Steinbeck wrote The Pearl based on his personal convictions, and based the story on the
biblical parable of a ?pearl of great price.' In this story, a jewel for which the merchant trades
everything he owns becomes the metaphor for Heaven. Everything in the merchant's earthly
existence, however, becomes worthless when compared to the joys of living with God in
Heaven. However, Steinbeck uses the parable as a meditation on the American dream of
success. Steinbeck, who himself had risen quickly to prosperity, explores how Kino, the
protagonist of The Pearl, deals with his newfound prominence in the community and riches.

Steinbeck found a second inspiration for The Pearl in the tale of a young Mexican boy told in
Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez. However, the boy in the original form of the story wished to use
the pearl to buy clothing, alcohol and sex. The story contains several similar plot points,
including the rapacious dealers and the attacks on the boy to find the pearl, that would recur
in the story's final form.

The Pearl derives much of its force from the descriptions of the impoverished lifestyle of the
Mexicans of La Paz, the location of the story. The plight of the impoverished is a consistent
theme in Steinbeck's work, including The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Although
these novels dealt with white protagonists, Steinbeck turned to the plight of Mexicans for The
Pearl based on the 1942 and 1943 Zoot Suit Race Riots in Los Angeles.

By the time that Steinbeck wrote The Pearl, he had gained an interest in writing screenplays,
and thus wrote the novel in a form suitable for easy adaptation to film. The story has a simple
plot structure and an economy of characters, but unlike The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and
Men, and East of Eden, Steinbeck did not adapt The Pearl. Instead, Steinbeck focused on
screenplays written originally for the screen for his subsequent works.

Below are the Essential Questions, Theme Topics (Motifs), Thematic Questions, and Key
Literary Terms that we will use for our analysis of The Pearl. These questions, theme topics,
and terms will guide our discussion and analysis during this unit, so it is important for you to
be familiar with them as you read. Use this overview to help guide your annotations and read
through the background information before you read the novel.
Essential Questions
How does parable transcend time and place to employ a universal theme?
What makes a theme universal?
Why are symbols useful to writers and their audience?
How can writing be used to effect change in society?
Themes from The Pearl
During your reading and annotating of The Pearl look for and mark passages that make a point or
statement about these possible theme topics:
Money, Possessions, Greed
: Look for passages/quotes dealing with the quest for money and the desire for things of the
material world, as well as references to the steps which people will take to attain those things. Also,
look for passages/quotes that imply that money can buy happiness.
Social Oppression
: Look for passages/quotes dealing with the oppression of the
Mexican Indians in the portrayal of the doctor, the priest, the pearl buyers, and the trackers. Watch
for details which show how Kino and his people are treated disrespectfully, taken advantage of, and
discriminated against.
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Man as a part of nature

: Look for passages/quotes which illustrate similarities between humans and other species through
comparisons. NOTICE the frequent images
Steinbeck uses and think of how these passages reflect or foreshadow (give hints about future
events) HUMAN events.

Kino’s songs
: Look for passages/quotes with references to the “ music” Kino hears––
the three types of songs he hears and their significance. Pay particular attention to WHEN and
UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES he “hears” a particular song.
Good vs. Evil
: Look for passages/quotes that reflect images and ideas of darkness- light, good- evil, brightness-
dimness, day- night, black- white, etc.
Appearance vs. Reality
: Look for passages/quotes that refer to things not being what they seem
. Consider looking for passages/quotes about visions, haze, mirages, dreams, vagueness, ghostly
gleams, illusions, etc.
Thematic Questions
How does oppression manifest in both the community and individual?
How can society’s wrongs be righted?
How much control does an individual have over his/her “success” in life?
How can we determine if something or someone is what or who they appear to be?
Can money or desire change an individual?
Is money necessary to be “successful” in life?
What is the difference between good and evil? Are there any shades of gray?

*Remember that a Literary Theme is

the controlling idea of a story an arguable comment or statement an author makes about the
nature of humankind or
society a truth that can be taken from the specifics of the story and applied to society in general
some human truth that the author wants the reader
to understand about life, the human experience, or human nature
Key Literary Terms:
theme, motif, characterization, conflict, symbolism, parable, allegory, setting, metaphor, simile,
personification, figurative language, imagery, Freytag’s Plot Pyramid

Background Information
Author:
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California the son of poor parents. Although he was
educated at Stanford University and became a celebrated writer, he never forgot his origins.
Growing up in working class towns, he became an excellent observer of human nature and later
wrote about the people he lived around––workers including Mexican-American and migrant
workers. He discovered the harsh reality that these people were often treated poorly and without
respect and had little means of defending themselves. As a result, many of the characters he wrote
about were down and out, isolated and oppressed. They represent the “struggle” theme
of his novels––principally the struggle between the poor and the wealthy, the weak and the strong,
good and evil, and between cultures or civilizations. These themes are all evident in The Pearl.
Setting:
The events of The Pearltake place sometime around the 1900 on an estuary (mouth of the river)
somewhere on the coast of Mexico in the town of La Paz. On a map the long peninsula which
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descends from California is called BAJA CALIFORNIA. It is part of Mexico and is separated from the
rest of Mexico by the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.
Historical Background and Social Culture:
At the time the story takes place, the Indians of Mexico had already been under the domination of
people of Spanish descent for 300 years. The governing class was primarily made up of those of
Spanish descent and the Roman Catholic Church who, together, kept the Mexican Indians at the
bottom of the social hierarchy or social ladder. In most cases, the Indians were not allowedto attend
school or own land. (Keeping people uneducated and dependent keeps them oppressed). Although
Spanish culture and Catholic rituals were forced upon the Indians, they fiercely held onto many of
their spiritual beliefs, cultures, and customs of their various tribes. WATCH FOR EVIDENCE OF THIS IN
THE NOVEL!
Style:
The Pearl is a short novel or novella which is told in the form of an allegory or PARABLE––a short,
simple work with little dialogue illustratinga lesson or a larger truth often on the subject of good and
evil. In a PARABLE, good and evil are clearly defined––everything is black and white, there are no
shades of gray. For instance, the good characters have names, and the bad characters have no
names. The characters and action symbolize certain universal ideas or concepts and the readers
attach their own meaning to these symbols.
Point of View:
The Pearl is told by an all knowing OMNISCIENT third-person narrator who is observing the
characters and their actions from outside the story.
Comment:
The reader is told in the preface, “In the town they tell the story of the great pearl––how it was
found and how it was lost again...If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning
from it and reads his own life into it.”Thus begins Steinbeck’s novel of good and evil,
The Pearl
. It is the timeless tale of the Mexican-Indian fisherman Kino, his wife Juana, and their infant son,
Coyotito. It tells of how Kino finds the Pearl of the World and dreams of breaking out of the trap of
poverty and ignorance that oppresses him and his family. The violence that follows shatters his
dreams, but brings him a greater understanding of himself and the realities of the
world in which he lives. As you read, consider what meaning you take from Kino’s story.

The Pearl Summary

The Pearl, which takes place in La Paz, Mexico, begins with a description of the seemingly
idyllic family life of Kino, his wife Juana and their infant son, Coyotito. Kino watches as
Coyotito sleeps, but sees a scorpion crawl down the rope that holds the hanging box where
Coyotito lies. Kino attempts to catch the scorpion, but Coyotito bumps the rope and the
scorpion falls on him. Although Kino kills the scorpion, it still stings Coyotito. Juana and
Kino, accompanied by their neighbours, go to see the local doctor, who refuses to treat
Coyotito because Kino cannot pay.

Kino and Juana leave the doctors and take Coyotito down near the sea, where Juana uses a
seaweed poultice on Coyotito's shoulder, which is now swollen. Kino dives for oysters from
his canoe, attempting to find pearls. He finds a very large oyster which, when Kino opens it,
yields an immense pearl. Kino puts back his head and howls, causing the other pearl divers to
look up and race toward Kino's canoe.
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The news that Kino has found an immense pearl travels fast through La Paz. The doctor who
refused to treat Coyotito decides to visit Kino. Kino's neighbors begin to feel bitter toward
him for his good fortune, but neither Kino nor Juana realize this feeling they have
engendered. Juan Tomas, the brother of Kino, asks him what he will do with his money, and
he envisions getting married to Juana in a church and dressing Coyotito in a yachting cap and
sailor suit. He claims that he will send Coyotito to school and buy a rifle for himself. The
local priest visits and tells Kino to remember to give thanks and to pray for guidance. The
doctor also visits, and although Coyotito seems to be healing, the doctor insists that Coyotito
still faces danger and treats him. Kino tells the doctor that he will pay him once he sells his
pearl, and the doctor attempts to discern where the pearl is located (Kino has buried it in the
corner of his hut). That night, a thief attempts to break into Kino's hut, but Kino drives him
away. Juana tells Kino that the pearl will destroy them, but Kino insists that the pearl is their
one chance and that tomorrow they will sell it.

Kino's neighbors wonder what they would do if they had found the pearl, and suggest giving
it as a present to the Pope, buying Masses for the souls of his family, and distributing it
among the poor of La Paz. Kino goes to sell his pearl, accompanied by his neighbors, but the
pearl dealer only offers a thousand pesos when Kino believes that he deserves fifty thousand.
Although other dealers inspect the pearl and give similar prices, Kino refuses their offer and
decides to go to the capital to sell it there. That night, Kino is attacked by more thieves, and
Juana once again reminds Kino that the pearl is evil. However, Kino vows that he will not be
cheated, for he is a man.

Later that night, Juana attempts to take the pearl and throw it into the ocean, but Kino finds
her and beats her for doing so. While outside, a group of men accost Kino and knock the
pearl from his hand. Juana watches from a distance, and sees Kino approach her, limping
with another man whose throat Kino has slit. Juana finds the pearl, and they decide that they
must go away even if the murder was in self-defense. Kino finds that his canoe has been
damaged and their house was torn up and the outside set afire. Kino and Juana stay with Juan
Tomas and his wife, Apolonia, where they hide for the next day before setting out for the
capital that night.

Kino and Juana travel that night, and rest during the day. When Kino believes that he is being
followed, the two hide and Kino sees several bighorn sheep trackers who pass by him. Kino
and Juana escape into the mountains, where Juana and Coyotito hide in the cave while Kino,
taking his clothes off so that no one will see his white clothing. The trackers think that they
hear something when they hear Coyotito crying, but decide that it is merely a coyote pup.
After a tracker shoots in the direction of the cries, Kino attacks the three trackers, killing all
three of them. Kino can hear nothing but the cry of death, for he soon realizes that Coyotito is
dead from that first shot. Juana and Kino return to La Paz. Kino carries a rifle stolen from the
one of the trackers he killed, while Juana carries the dead Coyotito. The two approach the
gulf, and Kino, who now sees the image of Coyotito with his head blown off in the pearl,
throws it into the ocean.

The Pearl Characterization

In the novel, The Pearl by John Steinbeck there is a large variety of different literary elements.
Steinbeck uses different techniques to develop all of his ideas for the novel. One literary element
Steinbeck uses is characterization. As the story unfolds, the use of characterization helps the reader
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get to know and understand each character as a whole.

As The Pearl began, Steinbeck informed the reader about the main character, Kino. “Kino was a
young and strong and his black hair hung over his brown forehead. His eyes were warm and fierce
and bright and his mustache was thin and coarse.” Kino was the protagonist of the story. The actions
of Kino portrayed him as the dominant male throughout the whole story.
Steinbeck also characterized Kino’s wife, Juana. Juana was very intelligent and a great mother to their
son Coyotito. As the novel progressed Coyotito was bit by a venomous scorpion and Juana took
action immediately. ” She found the puncture with redness starting from it already. She put her lips
down over the puncture and sucked hard and spat and sucked again while Coyotito screamed.”
Steinbeck showed that Juana was intelligent and a very instinctive mother. Even though Juana was
such a strong woman Steinbeck made it clear that Kino dominated over her in all the decisions.
When discovering the Pearl of the World, Kino gradually changed for the worst. Steinbeck showed us
that he was a dynamic character, he was a strong caring father and husband but he grew greedy and
violent. Kino wanted to sell his pearl to get money to do numerous things to benefit his family but
once the dealer informed him it was of much lesser value than he hoped, he became enraged. “I am
cheated… My pearl is not for sale here. I will go, perhaps even to the capital.”
Steinbeck showed how the main character, Kino changed throughout the novel with the use of the
pearl. Before discovering the pearl Kino was content with the very little he had. As Steinbeck used
characterization Kino changed throughout the novel and wanted more for the pearl than people
were offering, he became greedy.

Kino

A prototypical Mexican-Indian who works as a pearl diver, he begins the story as a devoted
father and husband to Coyotito and Juana, respectively. Kino is the central character of the
story, an Œeveryman' who finds himself becoming increasingly violent, paranoid and defiant
as he faces opposition from others after he finds the pearl, and resorts to assaulting Juana and
murdering those who threaten him.

Juana

The mother of Coyotito and the wife of Kino, Juana is, as her name suggests, the
representation of woman for Steinbeck in the story. She dutifully supports her husband,
despite his worsening treatment of her, but warns him against the dangers that the pearl can
bring to the family. Juana remains steadfast throughout the story and devoted to maintaining
her family. She even refuses to obey Kino when he suggests that they take separate paths to
avoid the trackers.

Coyotito

The infant son of Kino and Juana, after he is stung by a scorpion, the doctor refuses to treat
him because his parents have no money. Although Juana seemingly cures him with a seaweed
poultice, he receives treatment from the doctor only after Kino finds the pearl. When Kino
and Juana are hunted by trackers after escaping La Paz, one of the trackers shoots Coyotito in
the head as they hide in a cave.
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The Doctor

A fat, complacent man who is not from the same race as Kino and Juana, he refuses to treat
Coyotito for a scorpion sting when Kino and Juana cannot pay enough. However, once he
learns that Kino has found the Pearl of the World, he treats the healed Coyotito after leading
Kino and Juana to believe that Coyotito may suffer unseen consequences from the bite.
Seemingly interested in stealing the pearl, the doctor is not of the same race as Kino and
Juana, and longs for his days in Paris.

Juan Tomas

The brother of Kino and the husband of Apolonia, he warns Kino against the disastrous
consequences that he faces from finding the pearl. Juan Tomas hides Kino and Juana in his
house after Kino murders a man in self-defense.

Apolonia

The fat wife of Juan Tomas, Apolonia allows Kino and Juana to hide in her house after Kino
murders a man in self-defense.

The Pearl Summary and Analysis of

Chapter 1
Kino awakes and watches the hanging box where his infant son, Coyotito, sleeps. He then
watches his wife, Juana, who has also awakened and rests peacefully. Kino thinks of the Song
of the Family, a traditional song of his ancestors, as the dawn comes and Juana begins to
prepare breakfast. Kino's ancestors had been great makers of songs, and everything they saw
or thought had become a song. Juana sings softly to Coyotito part of the family song. Kino
looks at them and thinks that "this is safety, this is warmth, this is the Whole."

Kino sees a movement near the hanging box where Coyotito sleeps. A scorpion moves slowly
down the rope supporting the box. Kino thinks of the Song of Evil, the music of the enemy,
as the Song of the Family cries plaintively. Kino stands still, ready to grasp the scorpion, but
Coyotito shakes the rope and the scorpion falls on him. Kino reaches to catch it, but it falls
onto the baby's shoulder and strikes. Kino grabs the scorpion and kills it as Coyotito screams
in pain. Juana begins to suck the puncture to remove the poison.

Having heard the baby's screams, Kino's brother, Juan Tomas, and his fat wife Apolonia enter
with their children. Juana orders them to find a doctor. The doctor never comes to their
cluster of brush houses, so Juana decides to go to the doctor herself. The event becomes a
neighborhood affair, for Juan Tomas and Apolonia accompany them and even the beggars in
front of the church follow Juana as she marches toward the doctor. Kino feels weak as he
approaches the doctor's home, for the doctor is not of his race and thus believes that Kino's
people are simple animals.

Kino tells the doctor's servant that his child was poisoned by a scorpion. The doctor is a fat
man who longs for civilized living. Although the doctor is at home, he refuses to treat
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Coyotito unless he knows that he has money. The servant asks if Kino has money, and when
he can only offer small seed pearls, the servant tells Kino that the doctor has gone out. Kino
strikes the gate with his fist, splitting his knuckles.

Analysis:

The Pearl takes place among an impoverished Mexican-Indian community in La Paz.

Although the story involves essentially only this couple, Steinbeck uses Kino and Juana as
symbolic of the community in which they live. Steinbeck constructs Kino as an everyman
with concerns typical of persons of all social stations. As shown by his encounter with the
scorpion, Kino is a devoted father who dotes on his infant son and adores his wife. Quite
importantly, as the story begins Kino is perfectly content with his situation, despite his lack
of material possessions and difficult existence. As Kino watches his family, he believes that
this is the "whole," the entirety of everything he really needs. This is significant, for this early
contentment contrasts with the later panic that Kino and Juana will feel once they receive
hope for a better future. Juana, whose name even translates into Œwoman,' symbolizes a
feminine ideal that complements Kino's masculine prototype.

Nevertheless, despite the serene description with which Steinbeck begins The Pearl, he also
establishes that this existence is a precarious one; Coyotito's encounter with the scorpion
illustrates this possibility of danger that the family faces at all times and brings into focus the
magnitude of their poverty, showing that their poverty places a tangible price on their
existence that Kino may not be able to pay. The scorpion is a symbol of the furtive dangers
that threaten Kino and his family, able to strike furtively at any moment. It is therefore
analogous to the other enemies that will threaten Kino and Juana: the scorpion secretly enters
the house and strikes at them indirectly, instead of presenting a direct and open challenge to
them.

The critical situation that Kino's family faces is significant to show the great importance of
the fortune that Kino will receive, for it provides not only the possibility of material goods
but may buy the life of his child. Kino's encounter with the doctor sharply illustrates this, as
the doctor essentially allows Coyotito to die because Kino cannot pay for treatment.

Although Kino and Juana are representative of the larger community in which they live, this
community itself becomes significant in terms of the development of the story. This village
takes on a character of its own; this is shown in particular when Juana and Kino visit the
doctor and their neighbors follow in a near procession. These nameless villagers serve as a
form of chorus on the action of the story, commenting on the developments and judging the
decisions and events that occur to Kino. The idea of community is also significant in terms of
the various songs that Kino remembers. These songs are entirely symbolic, meant to place
Kino in the larger, less personal context as a member of a community with a sense of heritage
and to reinforce his status as an everyman. The two songs that Kino remembers during this
chapter, the Song of the Family and the Song of Evil, also place the story in a context with
diametric opposites; the story is largely a parable with defined parameters of good and evil.

Steinbeck uses the doctor who refuses to treat Coyotito as a symbol of the forces of
oppression that Kino and Juana face. The doctor represents the societal system that places a
monetary value on human life, as well as the obstacles that Kino and Juana face. The racial
divide between the doctor and Kino plays a considerable role in his refusal to treat Coyotito;
 We We

although this aspect of the story is not omnipresent, this presents an additional element of
adversity that Kino and Juana must endure.

In this chapter, Steinbeck foreshadows eventual changes in Kino's character when he smashes
his fist on the doctor's gate. This event shows that Kino reverts to violence and anger when
confronted with adversity, yet when he does so he hurts only himself.

Chapter 2
Kino and Juana walk slowly down the beach to Kino's canoe, the one thing of value that he
owns. The canoe is old, bought by Kino's grandfather, and is the source of food for Kino. It is
their most important possession, for "a man with a boat can guarantee a woman that she will
eat something." Coyotito still suffers from the scorpion bite: the swelling on his shoulder
continues up his neck and his face is puffed and feverish. Juana makes a poultice from brown
seaweed. This poultice is "as good a remedy as any and probably better than the doctor could
have done."

Kino and Juana get into the canoe so that Kino can find pearl oysters that may pay for the
treatment for Coyotito. Kino dives for pearl oysters, w. Kino works steadily under the water
until he sees a large oyster lying by itself with its shell partly open, revealing what seems to
be a massive pearl. Kino forces the oyster loose and holds it tightly against him.

When Kino comes up for air, Juana can sense his excitement. Kino opens the various oysters
he had caught, leaving the largest one for last. He worries that the large pearl he saw was
merely a reflection, for "in this Gulf of uncertain light there were more illusions than
realities." Finally, Kino opens the oyster to see a rich, perfectly curved pearl. Juana lifts the
poultice of seaweed from Coyotito to see that the swelling has begun to recede. Kino puts
back his head and howls, causing the men in other canoes to look up and race toward Kino's
canoe.

Analysis:

Steinbeck continues to detail the extreme poverty in which Kino and Juana live; not only can
they not afford their own canoe so that Kino may perform his job as a pearl diver, they must
use a canoe that is several generations old. This is important, for it gives greater weight to the
discovery of the pearl, which could raise them from a meager existence into some sense of
security.

The canoe is a symbol of Kino's heritage, a relic passed down from his grandfather, but it also
represents Kino's role as a provider for his family. Steinbeck generalizes the statement that a
man with a canoe can ensure that his wife will never go hungry to illustrate Kino's status as
an everyman and to emphasize the distinct roles and duties of a husband and father.

The life that Kino and Juana lead is also an antiquated one; when the doctor refuses to treat
Coyotito, Juana relies on primitive methods to cure her son. Steinbeck does not offer a sharp
critique of these methods. Instead, he finds them more than adequate to the task and perhaps
 We We

better than the treatment that the doctor might offer. In this novel, Steinbeck gives greater
emphasis and value to traditional behaviors and even primitivism over modern conveniences
and, in particular, those who have those luxuries.

Kino's occupation as a pearl diver demonstrates the small chance that he and his family have
for success. Pearl diving is a largely fruitless task that relies on the small chance for finding
suitable oysters undersea and generally offers only the bare sustenance that maintains Juana
and Kino. In effect, pearl diving is an act of desperation that further bolsters descriptions of
Kino's poverty. It is the only hope that Kino and Juana have.

Nevertheless, Kino immediately realizes that he has found an impressive pearl when he finds
the oyster during his dive, leaving this large oyster as the final one to be opened. This creates
a sense of tension and anticipation, as Kino realizes the significance of the pearl he has found.
Steinbeck even bolsters the idea of fortuitous chance by juxtaposing the discovery of the
pearl with Juana's realization that Coyotito has been cured, thus linking these two events,
both of which provide great hope for Kino and Juana. However, even upon the discovery of
the pearl Steinbeck foreshadows the later difficulties that might occur. Kino reverts to
animalistic behavior once he finds the pearl, literally howling in joy. The pearl causes Kino to
revert to instinctual behavior, a change that will have dangerous and disastrous consequences.

Chapter 3
The news of the pearl travels fast through Kino's small village. Before Kino and Juana return
home, the news had already spread that Kino had found "The Pearl of the World," as it comes
to be known. The local priest learns, as well as the doctor who refused to treat Coyotito.
When the doctor learns, he tells the patient that he is treating that he must treat Coyotito for a
scorpion sting. All manner of people grow interested in Kino, and the news stirs up
something infinitely black and evil. The pearl buyers consider how they might deal with Kino
and offer him the lowest possible price.

However, Kino and Juana do not know the anger and bitterness they have engendered. Juan
Tomas asks Kino what he will do now that he has become rich, and Kino answers that he and
Juana will be married in the church. Kino envisions how he will be dressed, and sees
Coyotito in a yachting cap and sailor suit from the United States. Kino then imagines buying
a rifle. Thinking of the rifle breaks down barriers for Kino, as he imagines the whole lot of
things that he might have. He thinks that Coyotito will go to school and learn to read. He
claims that "my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will
know‹he will know and through him we will know."

The priest visits Kino and Juana, and tells them that he hopes that they will remember to give
thanks and to pray for guidance. The doctor also visits, and although Kino tells him that
Coyotito is nearly well, the doctor claims that the scorpion sting has a curious effect that
comes later and if he is not treated he may suffer blindness or a withered leg. Not sure
 We We

whether or not the doctor is telling the truth, Kino nevertheless lets him see the baby. The
doctor takes a bottle of white powder and a gelatin capsule, and gives Coyotito a pill. The
doctor tells them that the medicine may save the baby from pain, but he will come back in an
hour to check on him. After the doctor leaves, Kino wraps the pearl in a rag and digs a hole in
the dirt floor where he conceals the pearl.

When the doctor returns, he gives Coyotito water with ammonia and tells Kino that the baby
will get well now. Kino tells the doctor that he will pay him once he has sold his pearl. The
neighbors tell the doctor that Kino has found the Pearl of the World and will be a rich man.
The doctor suggests that Kino keep the pearl in his safe, but Kino says that he has it secure.
The doctor realizes that Kino will likely look to the place where it is stored, and sees his eyes
move to the corner where he had buried it. After the doctor leaves again, Juana asks Kino
whom he fears, and he answers Œeveryone.'

That night, Kino thinks that he hears noises in his hut. He grabs his knife and strikes out in
the dark. The person scurries out. Juana tells Kino that the pearl is evil and will destroy them.
She tells him to throw it away or break it, for it will destroy them. Kino says that the pearl is
their one chance, and that the next morning they will sell the pearl.

Analysis:

As the titular object of the novel, the pearl that Kino discovers can
symbolize several different ideas or themes. In this chapter, Steinbeck
equates the pearl with hope for the future, for it is the means by which
Kino and Juana will be able to provide for Coyotito and give him a better
life. The pearl also represents a sense of freedom by enabling Kino to
educate Coyotito and give him the ability to choose his own profession and
way of life apart from the deterministic poverty of his parents. Although
the story takes place in Mexico, Steinbeck equates this with the American
dream of fortune and prosperity; Kino imagines Coyotito dressed in clothes
from the United States.

The discovery of the pearl causes a sharp change in the villagers' reactions to Kino and Juana,
for the once unimportant couple become renowned and notorious in La Paz. The pearl gives
Kino great importance within La Paz, as demonstrated by the visit from the local priest and
the doctor who had just recently refused treatment to Coyotito. However, with this newfound
interest in Kino comes the impending feeling of hatred and hostility for him; the discovery
causes an anonymous bitterness toward Kino for his great luck, a feeling that he and Juana
cannot realize. The hostility directed toward Kino and Juana takes two forms; the first is a
general jealousy from the community toward Kino for his luck, while the second is a more
specific greed shown by those who wish the pearl for themselves. Steinbeck illustrates this
avarice through both the priest and the doctor. In the former case, the priest gives attention to
Kino merely as a means to gain some of the money to the church, shamelessly asking Kino to
monetarily compensate God for the good fortune he has received.
 We We

In the latter, the doctor's newfound interest in Kino stems from a manipulative and dangerous
greed. His visit to Kino reveals that he not only wishes to secure part of Kino's new fortune
through the salary the doctor might receive for treatment but, as shown by the doctor's
attempt to locate the pearl in Kino's hut, that he intends to steal the pearl. Steinbeck makes
clear that the doctor does not visit Kino to cure his son; in fact, he indicates that the doctor's
treatment of Coyotito might even be superfluous. The suspicious designs of both the doctor
and the priest indicate that the danger that Kino faces is not from jealous neighbors who
might use the pearl to escape their own poverty, but rather from those whose economic
situation is secure and who merely desire greater luxury. Steinbeck thus uses the community
reaction to the pearl as social commentary that critiques the ruling class for avarice and
exploitation.

The manipulative behavior of the doctor foreshadows greater calamities

that Kino and Juana will suffer, which Steinbeck also shows through the
anonymous thief who attempts to steal the pearl that night. However,
Kino's and Juana's problems are not merely external forces, but are
equally internal. Throughout the chapter, Kino and Juana evolve
significantly. At first, neither can vocalize the changes that the pearl will
make for them, but once they think of the tangible consequences for their
newfound fortune they begin to articulate previously impossible and
unimaginable dreams. However, Kino and Juana diverge in their later
reactions to the pearl. Juana disavows the consequences of the fortune they
will receive, finding the scorn and danger that others present to be an
insurmountable evil. Kino uses the animosity and danger as reason for
suspicion and paranoia, as shown when Kino strikes randomly with his
knife when he fears an intruder. He lapses into the instinctual animalism
demonstrated in the previous chapter, a quality that will play a significant
role in the tragedy to come.

Steinbeck also foreshadows the trouble that Kino will find with the pearl buyers. In his
description of the pearl buyers, Steinbeck claims that, although there are many of them, they
are essentially one. This aligns with the idea of segments of the community as a collective
that permeates The Pearl; as Steinbeck describes the town, it is like "a colonial animal" with
its own emotion, essentially a person in itself. The neighbors who comment on the action are
not individuals, but rather symbols of their class. Even Juana and Kino exist less as fully-
formed individuals and as me representations of man and woman. The pearl buyers,
anonymous except for their identity as part of a class, symbolize the ruling elite of La Paz
who can exploit Kino.

Chapter 4
 We We

In La Paz, the entire town knew that Kino was going to sell the pearl that day. Kino's
neighbors speak of what they might do with the pearl. One man says that he would give it as
a present to the Pope, while another said he would buy Masses for the souls of his family for
a thousand years, while another thought he would distribute it among the poor of La Paz.
Everyone worries that the pearl will destroy Kino and Juana.

Before leaving to sell the pearl, Juan Tomas warns Kino and Juana to get the best price for
the pearl, and tells him how their ancestors got an agent to sell their pearls, but this agent ran
off with the pearls. Kino had heard the story told as a warning of punishment against those
who try to leave their station. Kino and Juana, followed by neighbors, reach the offices of the
pearl buyers.

The pearl dealer inspects the pearl and tells him that his pearl is like fool's gold, for it is too
large and valuable only as a curiosity. Kino cries out that it is the Pearl of the World, and no
one has ever seen such a pearl. The dealer offers a thousand pesos, to which Kino says that it
is worth fifty thousand and the dealer wants to cheat him. The dealer tells Kino to ask the
others around him. Kino can feel the evil around him as other dealers inspect the pearl. One
dealer refuses the pearl altogether, while a second dealer offers five hundred pesos. Kino tells
them that he will go to the capital. The dealer offers fifteen hundred pesos, but Kino leaves
with the pearl.

That night, the townspeople argue whether Kino should have accepted the money, which was
still more than he would have ever seen. Kino buries the pearl again that night, and remains
terrified at the world around him. Juan Tomas tell Kino that he has defied not only the pearl
buyers, but the whole structure of life, and he fears for his brother. Juan Tomas warns him
that he treads on new ground. Juan Tomas reminds Kino that his friends will protect him only
if they are not in danger, and tells him "Go with God" before he departs.

In the middle of the night, Kino feels a sense of evil from outside of his brush house, and he
prepares to wield his knife. Kino steps outside to see if there are prowlers. Juana can hear
noise from outside, so she picks up a stone and steps out of their hut. She finds Kino with
blood running down his scalp and a long cut in his cheek from ear to chin. Juana once again
tells Kino that the pearl is evil and they must destroy it. Kino insists that he will not be
cheated, for he is a man.

Analysis:

Steinbeck begins the chapter with the reactions of the people of La Paz, who propose what
they might do if they were to find a pearl of such great value. Their reactions reveal a sense
of animosity toward Kino, for the great plans for charity that these people suggest contrast
with the seemingly self-interested ideas that Kino proposed in the previous chapter. This is
important to show the undercurrent of criticism for Kino. Steinbeck suggests the jealousy that
people have for his good fortune. Additionally, the idealistic and charitable ideas that people
propose reveal a simplistic attitude toward receiving such a great fortune; as Steinbeck has
shown and will continue to show, Kino and Juana do not face easy decisions with regard to
their newfound fortune, and in fact may be in serious danger.

The pearl dealer, who symbolizes the ruling elite classes, proves to be another example of a
manipulative professional man akin to the priest and the doctor. He shamelessly attempts to
cheat Kino out of his money, offering a price that seems far too low for such a pearl; although
 We We

there remains the possibility that the pearl may be an oddity with little practical value, the
numerous attempts to steal the pearl, perhaps instigated by the pearl dealers, suggest
otherwise. Kino's refusal is no small feat; as Juan Tomas declares, he has defied the structure
of life around him. This places the parable in a larger political context, suggesting that a
hierarchy around Kino works to exploit him and others of his station and resists any attempts
to shift this social order. This idea is bolstered by the story concerning the pearl agent in
which punishment is inflicted upon those who attempt to secure a better station for
themselves.

However, although Kino repudiates the idea that punishment should be inflicted on those who
reach for higher social status, Steinbeck has conflicting ideas concerning this idea. Although
Steinbeck is quite sympathetic to Kino and Juana, casting them as the protagonists of the
story in comparison to the greedy, manipulative and one-dimensional villains such as the
doctor and the pearl buyers, the very structure of the story seems to suggest that Kino and
Juana will pay a great price for their aspirations. For finding the pearl and attempting to sell
it, Kino and Juana are physically threatened, suffer a silent condemnation from their
neighbors, and are besieged by opportunists, while they were content in their poverty, a
situation which Kino thought was "the whole."

Steinbeck continues to demonstrate that the pearl has more detrimental consequences for
Kino and Juana than benefits. Only two days after having found the pearl, Kino has suffered
two robbery attempts and has been assaulted once. These threats against Kino strengthen his
resolve, however, causing him to obstinately fight for the pearl and revert to brutal behavior.
The attacks against Kino are an affront to his masculinity, as shown by his constant avowal
that he is a man and thus cannot be cheated. This helps to illustrate the definition of
masculinity that Steinbeck deals with throughout The Pearl. While earlier the idea of
masculinity meant providing for one's family, for Kino it now encompasses receiving just and
respectful treatment.

Juana serves as the lone voice of reason, continuing to warn Kino of the disastrous
consequences of the pearl. As Kino becomes more and more consumed by his paranoia and
impulses, it is Juana who remains maintains a realistic appraisal of the effects of the pearl.
For Juana, the pearl represents a great evil and suffering, a sharp change from the sense of
hope and freedom that it originally symbolized. The irony of this situation is notable: the
pearl that would secure prosperity and stability for Kino and Juana instead offers them only
pain and danger.

Chapter 5
Kino senses movement near him, but it is only Juana who arises silently from beside him.
Kino sees her near the hanging box where Coyotito lay, and then watches her go out the
doorway. Kino begins to feel a great sense of rage as he hears her footsteps going toward the
shore; Juana is going to throw the pearl back into the ocean. Kino chases Juana, then strikes
her in the face with his clenched fist and kicks her in the side. He then turns away from her
and walks up the beach. Juana knows that when Kino said that he is a man, he meant that he
 We We

was "half-insane and half-god" and knows as a woman that "the mountain would stand while
the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it."

While walking on the beach, men accost Kino in search of the pearl, which is knocked from
his hand and lands on the pathway. Juana soon sees Kino limping toward her with a stranger
whose throat has been slit. She finds the pearl for Kino, and tells him that they must go away
before daylight. Kino says that he struck to save his life, but Juana says that this does not
matter. He orders her to get Coyotito and all of the corn they have. Kino finds his canoe with
a splintered hole in the bottom. He rushes home to find Juana and Coyotito, but Juana tells
Kino that their house was torn up and the floor dug, and someone set fire to the outside.

Juana and Coyotito go to Juan Tomas and Apolonia. When Kino tells about the man he has
killed, Juan Tomas says that it is the pearl and he should have sold it. Kino begs his brother to
hide them until nightfall. Kino tells Juan Tomas that he will head north. Kino says that he
will not give up the pearl, because "if I give it up I shall lose my soul."

Analysis:

Steinbeck builds a sense of paranoia and imminent tragedy for Juana and Kino during this
chapter, in which anonymous enemies threaten their safety. The men who attack Kino are
never named and their origins are never revealed; although Kino suspects that they are the
agents of the pearl dealers. This anonymity is significant, for the men who assault Kino
symbolize a more generalized Œevil' than the specific villainy of the pearl dealer or the
doctor.

This continues the string of various calamities that occur to Juana and Kino; they lose their
boat and their home while defending themselves. These two losses are significant, for the
canoe symbolizes the ability that Kino has to provide for and protect his family and the home
symbolizes the idea of the family that once gave Kino great comfort. By this point in the
story, Juan Tomas joins Juana in warning Kino of the problems of the pearl, but Juana's
predictions of disaster have already been partially fulfilled. When Juan Tomas tells Kino "go
with God" when Kino prepares to venture to the capital, this statement has a sense of
impending doom; Steinbeck makes it very clear that a tragic end for Kino and Juana is
imminent.

Steinbeck also makes the explicit point that the greatest damage caused by the pearl is the
change that it effects within Kino. The caring father and partner of the first chapter at this
point in the story attacks Juana when she attempts to take the pearl. Juana realizes the change
in her husband from a normal man to one with a questionable grip on sanity. It is ironic that,
when Kino declares that he is a man, he begins to act "half insane and half god," thus
negating the qualities that define him as a man. Steinbeck creates a tone of futility about
Kino's enterprise; as the rational and level-headed Juana realizes, Kino is a man raging
against an obstacle as insurmountable as a mountain or a storm, and his struggles will only
cause him to destroy himself.

Kino even finds himself capable of murder to defend himself; whether Kino is capable of a
more cold-blooded killing still remains questionable. Kino's comment that the pearl has
become his soul is the defining statement of his condition. It shows that Kino has ceased to be
in some level human; he cannot consider normal human needs and emotions, but defiantly
focuses on the pearl.
 We We

The reaction of the community to the tragedies that occur to Kino and Juana is significant.
While the neighbors followed every detail of Kino's life once the pearl promised to bring him
fortune and renown, during this time his neighbors remain silent. Only Juan Tomas and
Apolonia hide Juana and Kino but do so reluctantly. While Kino's neighbors have
commented on all of the events in previous chapters, they do not manifest any reaction to the
attacks on Kino and Juana.

Chapter 6
As Kino and Juana travel northward, Kino feels a sense of exhilaration along with his fear.
They walk all night and rest during the day so that they may not be found, and attempt to
cover their tracks so that they cannot be followed easily. Kino warns Juana that "whoever
finds us will take the pearl," but Juana wonders whether the dealers were right and the pearl
has no value. Kino says that they would not have tried to steal it if it were not valuable. Kino
repeats what they will have once they sell the pearl: the church wedding, the rifle, education
for Coyotito.

When they stop to rest during the day, Juana does not sleep and Kino stirs as he dreams.
When they hear noises from the distance, Kino orders Juana to keep Coyotito quiet. While
Juana hides, Kino moves through the brush to see what he heard, and notices in the distance
three bighorn sheep trackers, one of whom is on horseback. Kino realizes that if the trackers
find them, he must leap for the horseman, kill him and take his rifle. As the horseman passes
by Kino, he does not notice him. Kino and Juana both realize that if the trackers find them,
they will kill them to get the pearl.

Kino and Juana escape into the mountains, not bothering to cover their tracks. Kino orders
Juana and Coyotito to leave him, for he can go faster alone, but she staunchly refuses. Kino
and Juana take a zigzag path in order to thwart the trackers, and eventually find a small
stream and the entrance to a cave. Kino tells Juana to hide in the cave, and he fears that
Coyotito will cry, alerting the trackers.

While hiding in the cave, Kino finds that the trackers are by the stream. So that he will not be
seen, Kino takes off his white clothing and stealthily creeps near them as they rest. The
trackers can hear Coyotito, but think that it is merely a coyote pup. As the tracker prepares to
shoot what he thinks is a coyote, Kino approaches the trackers and pounces on them. He
grabs one of the trackers' rifle and shoots him between the eyes, and stabs another with his
knife. The third tracker escapes up the cliff toward the cave, but Kino shoots him. Kino
stands silently and hears nothing but the cry of death. Coyotito has been shot.

Kino and Juana arrive back in La Paz; he carries a gun while she carries her shawl with a
limp, heavy bundle. Their return to La Paz becomes a notable event: "there may e some old
ones who saw it, but those whose fathers and whose grandfathers told it to them remember it
nevertheless. It is an event that happened to everyone." Juana appears hardened and tight with
fatigue. Kino thinks of the Song of the Family, which has become his battle cry. As they
return to La Paz, nobody speaks to them and even Juan Tomas cannot bear to say a word.
Kino and Juana approach the gulf, and in the surface of the pearl Kino remembers seeing
Coyotito lying in the cave with his head shot away. Kino throws the pearl into the ocean.

Analysis:
 We We

The final chapter focuses primarily on the hunt for Kino and Juana as they try to escape La
Paz and reach the capital so that they can sell the pearl. Steinbeck creates the sense that Kino
and Juana are followed at all times. Pursued by bighorn sheep trackers, Juana and Kino are
literally hunted like animals. The division between man and animal is an important motif
throughout this chapter. It primarily relates to Kino's descent from those human qualities he
once displayed.

Steinbeck illustrates this through a number of events, such as when Kino attacks the trackers.
In this instance, Kino moves from being capable of murder for self-defense to a more cold-
blooded killing. Kino kills the three men out of fear and instinct and not because of any
tangible threat they pose to him.

Steinbeck also shows the loss of human qualities within Kino when he crawls naked to find
the trackers so that his white clothes will not expose him. He loses the final vestiges of
humanity and society to become even more animalistic. This descent is particularly ironic
when considering the death of Coyotito. Kino behaves as an animal so that he can protect
himself and his family, but Coyotito dies when the child is mistaken for a coyote pup.

Coyotito plays a significant role in this chapter as a reminder of the serene domestic
environment that Kino and Juana once had and as a danger for them. In the savage wilderness
where Kino and Juana find themselves, Coyotito serves as their one reminder of society and
civilization. Coyotito also represents the hope that Kino and Juana have for the future; it is
the infant child who will benefit most from the pearl, according to his parents' plans, and he
thus symbolizes the advantages that the pearl may bring..

Once again, Steinbeck keeps the adversaries who pursue Kino and Juana anonymous in order
to preserve their symbolic connotations. The bighorn sheep trackers may not even be
pursuing Kino and Juana; they are more important for how Kino and Juana perceive them
than their actual personalities. Whether or not they are actually a threat, Kino is so assured
that they are dangerous that he murders them before they have a chance to strike.

In contrast to the savage and brutal Kino, Juana becomes stronger through the suffering she
faces. She reveals herself to be dedicated to her husband even at the most dire moments,
demanding that he not break up their family despite the practical advantages. Furthermore, it
is Juana who remains awake at night, guarding Kino and Coyotito as Kino sleeps. Steinbeck
juxtaposes Kino with Juana; while the man becomes more instinctual and animalistic, the
woman retains her particularly human qualities. While Kino becomes suspicious and
paranoid, when he looks "for weakness in her face, for fear or irresolution . . . there is none."

The return of Kino and Juana to La Paz is anticlimactic, yet contains some degree of ironic
horror. Kino returns to La Paz with the one possession that he desperately wanted, a rifle, but
has lost his child and rejects the pearl. His rejection of the pearl fully demonstrates the horror
that the pearl has wrought upon him. Steinbeck constructs Kino's return to La Paz as an event
that brings Kino back to the family-centered ideals with which he began the story, but his
recollection of the Song of the Family has a significant undercurrent of defiance and anger.
His family has been destroyed, yet he clings to that ideal, for it is all that remains for him.

The Pearl is therefore a parable with an uncertain meaning at best and a morbidly determinist
one at worst. The story does seem to warn against attempting to improve one's social
situation, recalling Juan Tomas' story of the pearl agent who stole the townspeople's pearls.
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Although it seems to indict Kino for his attempts to gain the fortune that the pearl offers, it
offers equal if not greater censure to the elites of La Paz who attempt to exploit Kino and
thwart his attempts to sell the pearl. Even if Steinbeck does not intend the story to be a
critique of Kino for his behavior, the story has a decidedly deterministic viewpoint that
implies that Kino and Juana could do nothing to improve their situation.

Perhaps the most valid critique that Steinbeck offers in the pearl concerns the effects that the
newfound chance for riches has on Kino, who replaces human, civilized values with an
obsessive preoccupation with the pearl and suspicion of those around him. Steinbeck
criticizes the idea that the pearl has become Kino's soul, demonstrating that there are far
greater losses that Kino can face. Yet where the story remains problematic is that the hope
that the pearl brings is never tangible; calamities occur nearly immediately for Juana and
Kino, making the pearl into a simple curse for the family. Kino does not choose to sacrifice
his fortune; he chooses to repudiate his pain.

When Kino throws the pearl into the ocean, he discards a meaningless object. The pearl has
no value in the sense that, without Coyotito, the pearl has no power to provide for a better
future for Kino and Juana, who could gain only simple material items from their fortune.
Kino's repudiation of the pearl is an empty event, for he does not make a meaningful
sacrifice. He instead rids himself of an unwanted object that causes him pain. As a parable,
The Pearl is an empty one, merely choosing to heap tragedy upon its protagonists and forcing
them into pain and agony without offering them an alternate option or any possibility for
hope.

The Pearl: Theme Analysis

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Good versus Evil

The most prominent theme in the parable of the pearl is that of the struggle between good and
evil. As is the case with most parables the characters and events of the story are rendered
more definitely aligned with good or evil than would be possible to appreciate amongst the
degree of overlap inherent to the real world. Throughout the story the songs that Kino hears
in his head reveals to him on an instinctual level of a person or thing's true nature. Thus, the
song of evil accompanies the Priest who treats the indians like children and the doctor who
regards them as animals. The song of the family, or the song of life, accompanies the life-
sustaining morning activities as well as the family itself as they flee from their pursuers. In
Kino's conception of good and evil anything that threatens the family is evil. Thus the song of
evil can also accompany natural things like the scorpion which stings Coyotito. The pearl,
also a product of nature, is never clearly defined as inherently good or evil. Rather its effect
upon the family is shown to be evil once it has proven to be a treacherous repository of
Kino's dreams.
Poverty versus Wealth
The pearl's immediate and lasting effect upon Kino is to cause him to dream of better things
for himself and for his family. Although the pearl attracts attackers and pursuers, Kino is
determined that it shall be the means by which his family rises above their station and, most
importantly, his son achieves literacy. In this manner the story is a political one. The story
delineates and draws moral conclusions about the differences between early nineteenth
century Mexico's poor, characterized by the sympathetic characters such as Kino and Juana
and the country's rich portrayed using unsympathetic characters like the doctor.

In The Pearl, John Steinbeck shows that wealth can have dire consequences because it
engenders greed, envy, and evil.  Kino’s discovery of the pearl didn’t bring him wealth and
happiness; instead, it brought him troubles, difficulties, death and fear to him and his family
life.

In addition, John Steinbeck  shows man’s inhumanity to others  throughout the novel.   The
wealthy people, represented by the doctor, face poor people who live on a simple and
humble way, taking the richness for themselves and refuse kindness or charity to humble
people, as evidenced by the doctor’s refusal to see and help to Coyotito. At the same time,
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who has more  power and influence, could dominate and corrupt others by greed and
evilness.

On the other hand,  as Kino wants to obtain money and status through the pearl, he
transforms from a happy and kind man to a criminal, demonstrating how ambition and greed
can destroy innocence and peacefulness. Kino’s desire to acquire wealth perverts the pearl’s
natural purpose and good luck, transforming it from a symbol of hope to a symbol of human
destruction. 

  Scenes of the story where the theme is clearly presented:

First  scene: Kino, his wife (Juana) and his son (Coyotito) were in the house.  Suddenly a
scorpion showed up in his little box and stung the baby on his shoulder. 

Second  scene: Kino and Juana took the baby and went to the doctor’s house.  The doctor
refused to attend the baby because this family didn’t have any money for paying a treatment.

 Third  scene: Kino found the most beautiful and bid pearl in the sea.  He and his wife
thought that if they sold the pearl, they would get money for paying Coyotito’s treatment. 
However, Kino started to think about his future, they would become rich and his son would
learn to read at the school.

Forth  scene: All community realized that Kino found The Pearl of the World.   Everybody
hears the news and the doctor go to Kino’s house.  Now he knows that Kino would become a
rich man and he would pay whatever for his son’s health. 

Fifth scene: Kino tried to sell the pearl but all pearl sellers offered a low price for it.  Kino
desisted about his decision and decided to keep the pearl until he can sell in a high price.  But
people got jealous about Kino’s luck and tried to steal his treasure.  Here all Kino’s problem
started.

 Sixth scene: Kino, Juana and Coyotito had to escape from their house.  Kino had killed a
man; also, somebody wanted to steal the pearl and harm them as well.  Kino decided to go to
Loreto.  His family was in risk but Kino continued thinking about that pearl had to be close to
him, it had become his own soul.

Family
Although Kino begins the story with the "song of the family" coursing through his being, he
is soon sidetracked by the desires generated by the pearl. Though these desires are for things
that Kino believes will make the family stronger - a rifle, a marriage, education - It is Juana
who struggles to maintain the family as it once was. Significantly, it is Juana who first
suggests destroying the peal between two stones and actually attempts to free her family of its
influence by throwing it back into the sea. She realizes that the family would have no
meaning without Kino and relents to his desire to sell the pearl in the city. Just as the family
is what drives Kino's desires, so does the sense of family bind Juana to his side when she
refuses to part with him during their flight into the mountains. Once Coyotito has been killed,
however, the family has ceased to exist and Kino can see that the pearl, contrary to his initial
belief, has brought nothing but bad fortune.
Fortune
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The operations of chance and the effort to discern good luck from bad luck in an underlying
theme in the story. The pearl itself is the byproduct of a chance grain of sand embedding in
an oyster. Additionally, Kino's finding of the pearl is depicted as the lucky moment of
collusion of being in the right place at the right time with the right need. The luck that that the
pearl brings Kino's family, however, is revealed to be bad luck when his attempt to sell it at a
fair price leads to the death of his only son.

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

The World Is Its Oyster

Remember how The Pearl is a parable? Well, think of the novel as a giant Parable Oyster
holding within it a beautiful Symbolic Pearl. What's the Symbolic Pearl, you ask? The
Symbolic Pearl is the symbolic pearl. yes. Is this pearl ever symbolic. It sings. It houses
dreams and demons alike.  It's the apex of Kino’s dreams and desires... and the next minute
it’s a harbinger of bad, wicked things. Juana calls it "evil," "a sin" that "will destroy" them:

Now the tension which had been growing in Juana boiled up to the surface and her lips were
thin. "This thing is evil," she cried harshly. "This pearl is like a sin! It will destroy us," and
her voice rose shrilly. "Throw it away, Kino. Let us break it between stones. Let us bury it
and forget the place. Let us throw it back into the sea. It has brought evil. Kino, my husband,
it will destroy us." And in the firelight her lips and her eyes were alive with her fear. (3.75)

But to reduce this crazy, beautiful symbol down to the statement pearl = evil would be to
miss the bigger picture. If the pearl itself is the problem, we can’t really critique the motives
and behavior of the characters in the novella. We walk away from the parable with the lesson
that… um… really big pearls are evil?

Not so much.

Mirror, Mirror, On The Ocean Floor...

Did you notice how the pearl has a strangely reflective quality? Regardless of whether or not
this is realistic, it certainly has something to do with the pearl as a symbol. And it helps us
see that the pearl itself isn’t the source of evil.
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Men look at the pearl and see what they want to see: Kino sees a wedding, education for his
son, a rifle. The doctor sees himself moving back to Paris and eating in fancy restaurants. The
priest sees additions for his church. The point is that people make the pearl into what they
want it to be:

It follows then that if the pearl is evil, it is because people have made it evil. They have
corrupted with greed what should have been a beautiful, elegant means for a better future:

He looked into his pearl to find his vision. "When we sell it at last, I will have a rifle," he
said, and he looked into the shining surface for his rifle, but he saw only a huddled dark body
on the ground with shining blood dripping from its throat. And he said quickly, "We will be
married in a great church." And in the pearl he saw Juana with her beaten face crawling
home through the night. "Our son must learn to read," he said frantically. And there in the
pearl Coyotito's face, thick and feverish from the medicine.

And Kino thrust the pearl back into his clothing, and the music of the pearl had become
sinister in his ears, and it was interwoven with the music of evil. (6.16 – 6.17)

In other words: pearls don’t kill people, people kill people.

Of course, the tragedy of The Pearl is that no one realizes this. Even the wisest, most pensive
characters—Juan Tomás and Juana, the two "guides" for Kino—mistake the evils of people
as the flaws of the pearl. If you look at it this way, the novel’s ending is doubly dismal: Kino
has lost everything and yet learned nothing from it. He somehow thinks that by chucking the
pearl to the bottom of the ocean, the problems of man will disappear. As readers of the
parable, we must not make the same mistake as Kino.

The Scorpion: A Symbol Inside A Parable

We're going to start out with a sentence that is a) a true statement of fact and b) the most
symbolic sentence we can think of this side of "A white whale and a raven ate an apple."

Are you ready? Are you ready for this symbolic overload? Here goes:

The Pearl begins with a defenseless baby getting stung irrationally by a poisonous scorpion.

Hoo boy. Let’s start with "defenseless baby."

Kino is on par with the innocent babe. The colonizing Europeans have intentionally kept
Kino and the other natives in ignorance. Chapter Three even tells us that the doctor considers
them "children" and treats them as such. If Kino is helpless to struggle against the injustice
done to him, it is in part because of this ignorance: he doesn’t know how much the pearl
should be worth, he doesn’t know that the doctor scammed him, and that the priest is just as
self-serving. He may have inclinations, but he’s still taking shots in the dark. In the same
way, Coyotito is at the mercy of the scorpion.

Next up: "stung irrationally." That Coyotito is poisoned is arbitrary. It is senseless, and it
reflects a complete lack of divine justice in the universe. The gods are clearly not looking out
anyone (just as Kino notes "the detachment of God" while watching an ant get buried alive in
the sand). In this way, the finding of the pearl is equally arbitrary.
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Next in our symbolic trio is "a poisonous scorpion." The whole scorpion bit comes not-so-
subtly back up in the following passage from Chapter Three:

The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town; the black distillate was
like the scorpion, or like hunger in the smell of food, or like loneliness when love is withheld.
The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed
with the pressure of it. (3.6)

Well, take a look at that. Steinbeck doesn’t leave much to the imagination—the townspeople
threaten Kino the same way the scorpion threatened his baby. Additionally, it seems like all
the men (including Kino) quickly degenerate into animals, reduced by their greed and
jealousy to their most base, primitive forms.

So, quick recap: the scorpion stinging the helpless baby symbolizes what happens in The
Pearl: the evil of the town ends up "stinging" the innocent Kino.

STYLE
Symbolism

         Although The Pearl is less than 100 pages and an easy read, Steinbeck still develops a
deep symbolic story about a young Indian diver named Kino. Kino, his wife, Juana, and their
son Coyotito live in the village of La Paz, which poverty overwhelms. When a scorpion
stings Coyotito, Kino and his family are forced to go to the city so that Coyotito may receive
medical attention. The doctor refuses to help Kino’s son because they are in the lower class
of society. Kino’s luck changes when he goes diving for pearls and discovers the “Pearl of
the World”. However, Kino and other town’s people grow a deep attraction for the pearl,
which begins to corrupt them. Steinbeck shows that greed and lust for an object or possession
will corrupt one’s mind and soul.

            Steinbeck uses a simple, easy to read writing style in The Pearl, with very little
dialogue and the clever use of songs to display character’s emotions. Kino sings the Song of
the Family whenever he is happy. When Kino senses danger, he hears the Song of Evil.
Steinbeck even creates a Song for the Pearl to demonstrate the symbolic power the pearl
contains. The simplistic style of writing is what makes The Pearl a great read.

             Steinbeck loads The Pearl with symbols, which give the story deep meaning. The
pearl represents the beauty and attractiveness of wealth and power, then later becomes  an
object of corruption and evil. Steinbeck also uses the scorpion in the beginning of the book as
a symbol for evil and misfortune that has entered Kino’s life.

         Steinbeck displays the unequal rights between the rich and poor when the doctor thinks
he is wasting his time with the lower class of society. The poverty Kino and his family face
reminds the reader that many people of the world face poverty every day. Steinbeck reminds
readers to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, rather than lusting after material possessions.

        Overall, Steinbeck creates a simple plot and turns it into a deep symbolic story which
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makes this book a great read. Although The Pearl is not lengthy like his other book, The
Grapes of Wrath, he still gets the main theme and points of the story across just as well, but
in fewer pages. It is this accomplishment that makes The Pearl a must read

The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck, is a novel that shows how greed a jealousy can
destroy.  An indigenous pearl diver named Kino discovers a large pearl one day while
diving.  He thinks that his new found wealth can solve his family’s struggle to survive. 
Quickly the small fishing village he lives in begins to turn against him.  Kino decides to set
out for The Capital to sell his pearl.  First driven by thoughts of being able to provide for his
family, Kino gradually starts to become protective of the pearl.  It becomes an obsession and
it turns him away from his family and friends. 

         The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a very short and easy read. The book will not take you
more than two hours to read and it is interesting enough to keep you entertained till the end.
The overall theme of the book is not to let greed control you and that man is never in control
of his future.  The story takes place a long time ago in a small town in Mexico. Kino, the
main protagonist, has a child who is attacked by a poisonous scorpion and Kino must find a
way to raise money to pay the hedonistic doctor for medicine.  Out of desperation and fear for
his child Kino decides to go pearl hunting. He ends up finding the “Pearl of the World” and
the curse that follows it. The pearl makes Kino paranoid of almost everyone but his wife and
fills his mind with promises that even with the pearl of the world would be hard to attain.
With his new treasure Kino must go through many tragic trials before he realizes what is truly
important in life (don’t worry no spoilers here). No

SONGS

Steinbeck translates that everything from family to foe has a song that lets you know whether
or not harm is in your way. He also uses a lot of fragments and chops when danger is nearby.
He uses that style of writing to create suspense and to pull your eyes closer and closer to the
book so that you cannot take your eyes away from it.

IMAGERY

He also uses great visual imagery so that you can see the mountains, villages, and ocean.
John Steinbeck probably got his idea for this book while listening to old pearl hunter fables
when he was traveling in Mexico, and decided to integrate to a more recent time in history.

                In my opinion this was a good book and an extremely easy read. Steinbeck did a
great job of telling a story with a lesson and showing me the perspective of a desperate pearl
hunter. ; even though this book is great and entertaining it just wasn’t the type of book I’m
used to reading. Despite what a few people say about this book I would definitely recommend
this to a friend to read. The tragic ending only teaches us a life lesson about the flaws of
humankind and how you should never “count your chickens before they hatch”. This book
has an easy vocabulary that makes it acceptable to all ages, and only takes an hour or two to
read.

        In John Steinbeck’s book, The Pearl, he shows how the obsession of obtaining wealth
can lead to the destruction of those trying to obtain it and those they love. He shows this
through the life of a poor Indian pearl diver, Kino. He lives with Juana, his wife, and his son,
Coyotito, in the city of La Paz. Kino is forced to go into town to seek medical help when his
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baby son is stung by a scorpion, but the Doctor turns him away when he realizes they have no
money. His luck changes when he goes pearl diving and he finds “the Pearl of the World.”
News of his find spreads quickly around the small town and the pearl buyers do what he
feared the most, conspire against him. Once he realizes what they have done he sets off to the
capital with his family to try and get a fair price. They encounter many obstacles on their
journey to the capital and in the end Kino’s greed results in an unimaginable incident.

            Steinbeck uses “the Pearl of the World” to assist him in demonstrating the main theme
of his book, the destructive power of greed. The narrator effectively describes man’s greed
through his observation that “humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and
they want something more” in response to Kino’s plotting of all the things that he  is going to
do once he gets the money from the pearl. The pearl helps him show this through the way it
changes Kino. Before Kino found the pearl he was a hardworking father trying to provide for
his family, but after his discovery of the pearl all he can think of is what he is going to do
with all the money he will get. The pearl also changes the way the rest of the citizens act as
well. They are engulfed by their greed and try to get some of the money that Kino will get
from the pearl. At first the pearl is a sign of a change in Kino’s fortune, but after greed begins
to consume him it becomes a dark evil omen that can do nothing but destroy. Juana tries to
warn him about it, but he will not listen and only responds in violence. Eventually Kino’s
greed leads to an unforeseeable act of destruction and it is only then that he realizes what he
has become.

            Steinbeck’s The Pearl is a great quick read. Even though it is only a hundred pages
long, Steinbeck is still able to effectively touch on a very important point. The subject of
greed’s destructive power is thoroughly shown in this book through the life of a poor diver
who suddenly finds wealth, but is not able to handle it and soon becomes destroyed by it. I
would highly recommend this book to anyone that asked me about it or to anyone that enjoys
an interesting story with great moral lessons.

Allegory

An allegory takes many forms. One form of allegory is that of a type of fiction more or less
symbolic in feature intending to convey a meaning which is not explicitly set forth within the
narrative. Allegories usually involve a journey that a character makes toward spiritual
growth. Kino's story is an allegory: his journey affords him a small amount of personal
growth and a variety of lessons to meditate on. The plot is simple: a man finds the Pearl of
the world but he does not gain happiness and throws it back. Within this narrative are many
hidden meanings. The story tells us that man is in the dark and needs to wake up. Therefore,
the opening shows Kino waking in the night, which is allegorical, but because the Cock has
been crowing for some time we know that he has been trying to gain a consciousness...
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Study Questions & Essay Topics

Study Questions
1.

What do we learn about the pearl’s symbolism from the reactions it evokes?

In his epigraph to The Pearl, Steinbeck writes, “If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone
takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it.” Indeed, the pearl’s vague
symbolism means that each character’s—and each reader’s—reaction to it seems more a
function of the nature of the person involved than of the pearl itself. For most characters, the
pearl simply brings out greed and ambition. To those few who are sensitive to the current of
greed surrounding the pearl, however, the pearl is a powerful symbol of evil and ill fortune.
Juana is one such character, as is Juan Tomás, who quickly recognizes the “devil in th[e]
pearl.”

2. Discuss Steinbeck’s use of foreshadowing in The Pearl.

At every turn, Steinbeck provides clues as to what will happen in the narrative, although
sometimes his clues are obscure. For instance, Coyotito’s name, which means “little coyote,”
hints at the fact that Coyotito is eventually mistaken for a baby coyote by the trackers. More
concretely, in Chapter 2 the narrator discusses the native’s concept of “the Pearl That Might
Be,” foreshadowing Kino’s discovery of “the Pearl of the World.” Additionally, Juana
suggests that the pearl is evil long before it has visited its full measure of evil upon them.
Near the end of Chapter 3, Juana even suggests that the pearl will destroy their son, as it
ultimately does.

3.

One important element of The Pearl is the contrast between fate and human agency, between
the destiny that is made for us and the destiny that we make ourselves. How do these forces
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interact in Kino’s story? To what extent is Kino responsible for his own demise? To what
extent is fate responsible?

The role of fate looms large in Kino’s undoing in two ways. First, Kino’s downfall is incited
by his accidental, divinely appointed discovery of the pearl. Second, Kino’s status as an
impoverished fisherman who lives under the burden of colonial oppression also creates the
sense that his tragedy is decreed by fate. The odds weigh heavily against his success, and it
must be granted that, to some extent, society does conspire toward his downfall.

At the same time, Kino is in large part to blame for his misfortunes. His headstrong insistence
on profit at all cost and his refusal to heed the warnings of his brother and his wife
demonstrate his stubbornness and heedlessness; his excessive dependence on violence betrays
a possible recklessness and poor judgment. Ultimately, Kino’s own shortcomings are the
cause of the destruction of his happy family life.

Suggested Essay Topics

1. How does the novella’s conclusion complete Steinbeck’s moral argument? Could the
novella have ended in any other way? Is it wise of Kino to throw the pearl back into the sea,
or should he have searched for another option?

2. What role does family play in The Pearl? How does the loyalty of Kino’s family members
(especially Juana and Juan Tomás) affect his actions? Was Juan Tomás correct to shield Kino
from the law after he had committed murder? Is Juana correct to be so submissive to him?
Does either character have a choice?

3. Some critics read The Pearl as a very specific critique of the American dream of wealth
and success. Is this reading plausible, or does it limit it unnecessarily? If the story is about the
American dream, why is it set in a colonial Mexican society?